Mother Teresa was born in 1910 in Macedonia with the name Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (Mother Teresa, 2012). At the age of twelve, Agnes knew she wanted to be God's servant and at 18 became a nun with a group of missionaries in India. Mother Teresa was first utilized as a teacher in Calcutta and seeing the extreme poverty decided to devote her life to the most desperate souls. She set up schools for the poorest of poor in the slums of Calcutta and was soon joined by other volunteers. In 1950, Mother Teresa started her own order, "The Missionaries of Charity"(Mother Teresa). Over the years this order has grown to provide service and love to the poorest and most hopeless souls. There are now over one million Co-Workers in more than 40 countries following Mother Teresa's example of love and charity. Her most inspiring philosophy was; "If you can't feed a hundred people, then just feed one"(Mother Teresa). Her philosophy is inspirational to me because we can all start with small acts of charity. A large scale project may seem overwhelming, but by providing charitable acts for those near to you we can make a difference. I will leave you with these words from Mother Teresa:
Mother Teresa's Anyway Poem
People
are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.
Forgive them anyway.
If
you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
Be kind anyway.
If
you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
Succeed anyway.
If
you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
Be honest and frank anyway.
What
you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
Build anyway.
If
you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
Be happy anyway.
The
good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Do good anyway.
Give
the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You
see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
[Reportedly inscribed on the wall of Mother
Teresa's children's home in Calcutta, and attributed to her.]It was never between you and them anyway.
Reference
Mother Teresa - Biography.( 2012, December). Retrieved from http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1979/teresa-bio.html
Courtney,
ReplyDeleteMother Theresa is truly an inspiration. You provided an excellent biography about her and the work she did. We may lose some people along the way in our lives, but we need to listen to our hearts and give back. The song by Martina McBride’s “Anyway” was inspired by the poem of Mother Theresa, which is really cool. I hope you have a great Christmas!
Hollie Morris
Hi Courtney, I really enjoyed your blog. Mother Theresa was a great inspiration. I found hope in knowing that she told people that inspite of what others may say about you do it anyway.I also enjoyed her peom my favorite part was when she says "give the world your best". I took that to mean sometimes we must step out of our comfort zone.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck,
Sandra Holman
Hello Courtney,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved your blog. What a great woman to write about. Her devotion to the poor and needy was remarkable. The poem you ended with was very inspirational and what a wonderful way to end the semester by reading that. Thank you for reminding me that to make a positive difference in one person’s life or hundreds doesn’t matter, it’s that you made the effort to help.
Cynthia M